NEWS

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill on Monday making it legal to manufacture, prescribe, and use medical marijuana in New York state.

The legislation creates a seven-year program which strictly regulates how the drug will be prescribed, used, and manufactured. Cuomo, who opposed legalizing marijuana for recreational use, called the bill one of the smartest and strictest medical marijuana bills in the country.

“It’s only fitting that now that we have identified an advancement in medicine in medical marijuana that the state of New York takes that step at this time. There is no doubt that medical marijuana can help people,” Cuomo said at the New York Academy of Medicine in Manhattan on Monday.